Ford C-max Energi Forum Summary

December 20, 2012

Since the Ford C-max Energi was first released in October 2012, there have been lots of happenings surrounding Ford’s first plug-in electric vehicle.

Ford has announced that the C-max Hybrid and C-max Energi have sold mroe units in the first full month of sales than the 2006 Camry did, and even higher than the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight combined sold back in 2000! Ford has positioned the C-max Energi to be a real competitor to the Toyota Prius, and even more specifically the Prius Plug-in and Prius V because of it’s larger interior space and plug-in hybrid ability.

Even with such great sales, Ford has had some issues. The first is a large debate/concern over the lack of cargo space in the C-max Energi. The Energi is supposed to be bigger than the Volt since it has 5 seatbelts instead of the Volt’s 4 seatbelts, but the C-max Energi’s trunk is half full of batteries and that really eats up cargo space. View the full discussion and pictures of the cargo area on our C-max Energi Forum

Then, in early December, Consumer Reports released their findings on the C-max Hybrid and while mostly positive, they stated they had never received such poor real-world mileage when compared to the EPA rating. The C-max Hybrid is rated at 47mpg in the city and on the highway, and Consumer Reports couldn’t even break 40mpg. Read the full report on our C-max Energi Forum here

Lastly, there are many high profile EV enthusiasts that give the C-max Energi glowing reviews, such as this review from Lyle Dennis (of gm-volt.com fame). In regards to the Chevy Volt and Ford C-max Energi, he says:

The two cars are closely priced, drive similarly, are high tech and fun. They get tremendous fuel economy. Overall, the Volt offers more gas-free driving potential, but that depends on your driving behavior. The Ford offers rear seating for three, better interface, combined gas and battery AUTO mode, and a larger crossover design.